Flyers Coaching Search: First Domino Falls in Vegas, What It Means for Flyers

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

It appeared the Stanley Cup Final was going to begin without any team filling their coaching vacancy. While it seemed Barry Trotz held all the cards, Vegas pushed their chips to the center of the table and made the first move.

On Tuesday afternoon, it was first reported by Kevin Weekes of ESPN and NHL Network that Bruce Cassidy will become the next head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights. 

So what does this mean for the Flyers in their coaching search? From a candidacy standpoint, it likely means very little. If nothing else, Vegas making their hire now actually increases the likelihood that they will be in position to hire either Trotz or John Tortorella, who appear to be the two leading candidates at this point. There were rumors that Trotz was the favorite for the Vegas job prior to the Cassidy hire.

What this does do to the Flyers, and the other teams with a vacancy, is somewhat increase the urgency. The belief was that the first domino to fall was always going to be Trotz. Now that this isn’t the case, does that change things, both for Trotz and the remaining teams? 

There will be teams, like the Flyers, that may still be content to wait out what Trotz decides because they simply want him that much. For others, it may lead to a quicker process and more announcements in the near future.

The Flyers are joined by the Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, and Winnipeg Jets with coaching vacancies. The Florida Panthers and Chicago Blackhawks also still have head coaches with interim tags, so they are worth monitoring.

Trotz and Tortorella have had the most buzz surrounding the Flyers position, though the team has interviewed multiple candidates, including Peter DeBoer, who was also reported to be a finalist. Rick Tocchet and Mike Vellucci are also names that have been reported as possible candidates to reach the second round of interviews.